Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Final batch of skeletons, starting with one from Dorset. Beaminster in Dorset was in the Crewkerne Penny Post. The skeleton below is dated 9th July 1906 in manuscript - the year slug in the skeleton appears to be missing.

Some later examples from the 1920s - firstly one from Street dated 17th August 1921, and is known used from 25th July 1921 to the example below.

Two examples from Clevedon dated 10th and 12th September 1924. The cancel is known used between 11th August and 24th September 1924.

And finally an example from 1975 - a philatelic registered envelope from Hatch Beauchamp dated 14th January 1975. The cancel is known used between 31st December 1974 and 4th March 1975. The example below is missing some letters from the cancels.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Carrying on, here's a skeleton from Minehead S.O. (sub-office) - at least that is what it is supposed to be but the "S" of "SO" is missing. Example is dated 8th April 1909, with the cancel in use from the 19th February to 11th April 1909 while Minehead swapped from a squared circle to a double circle cancel.

A skeleton from Roadwater next, dated 24th December 1909, just after the Roadwater sub-office transferred to come under Washford. The cancel was in use between 19th November and 24th December 1909.

Shepton Mallet skeleton, example dated 12th August 1909, was in use from 17th July to 31st August 1909.

A couple of examples of a Wells skeleton, dated 26th November and 2nd December - the handstamp was in use between 17th November and 31st December 1903.

And finally a couple of examples of a Weston-super-Mare skeleton, dated 30th August and 5th September 1906. The handstamp was in use from 27th July to 11th September 1906.

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

I've already shown a few skeleton cancels from Burnham, Glastonbury and Wellington, see here.

Here are a few more spread over the next few posts, mainly gathered at Midpex in July 2013. Most are from the 1903-1909 period, with one from 1911, a couple of a slightly different format from the 1920s and one from 1975.

Frome skeleton dated 7th June 1904 - this handstamp was in use from 20th May to 6th July 1904.

Glastonbury skeleton dated 27th November 1904 - handstamp in use from 16th November to 9th December 1904.

A later Glastonbury skeleton dated 26th June 1911 - handstamp in use from 13th June to 20th July 1911.

Midsomer-Norton skeleton dated 25th April 1907, handstamp in use from 26th March to 11th May 1907.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Next we come to a boxed "No.6" receiving house cancel from Croscombe dated June 1837.

Then a piece with a framed "Wells.S. / P.yP." handstamp from 1826. Any suggestions on how the postal charge was made up gratefully received.

A boxed "No.15" in the Wells Penny Post from March 1826 is from Ston Easton. the entire would have gone via Old Down which from 1823 to 1826 had the boxed "No.15" handstamp, from the Bristol Penny Post but used in the Wells Penny Post.

And finally just to stay on the Wells theme, a four bar vertical oval duplex from May 1883.

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

My recent acquisitions include some further examples of the Wells Penny Post.

Firstly a free front with a boxed "No.1" Receiving House handstamp from 1821. the front has a framed "TO PAY 1D ONLY", indicating that the free franking parliamentary priviledge did not apply to the local penny post.

Then three examples of Axbridge in the Wells Penny Post - the first two from 1822 and 1824 with both a boxed "No.5" and a straight-line "AXBRIDGE", and the third from 1825 with just the straight line handstamp.

Sunday, 13 October 2013

From the middle of 1857 the format of the UDCs changed to a smaller 19mm format, firstly with just a single arc, and then to a single ring with the place name either around the perimeter or across the diameter depending on the length of the place name (8 letters and above went around the perimeter).

I only have two examples from this period, of the first, single-arc format.

Winsford's UDC was not registered in the Steel Impression Books. Winsford came under Tiverton in Devon at that time. Its UDC is known used in blue from November 1857 to March 1858. The example below is in black from November 1857, a few days earlier than the previously known examples in blue.

Langford's UDC was registered on 25th February 1858 and is known used between September 1858 and March 1859. The example below is in blue from March 1859.

The item above is from the period just before Railway Sub Offices were introduced, where because mail went via the railway a sub-office was not tied to a specific post town for accounting purposes. Such an office received its mail from a Travelling Post Office (TPO) on the railway, but didn't have to be on the railway. Langford became an RSO in December 1859.

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Churchill's UDC was issued on 14th May 1845, and is known used in black (June 1845 to January 1850) and in blue from March 1852 to July 1859. The example below is in blue from March 1859.

Langford's main period UDC was issued on 2nd December 1851 and is known used from March 1852 to February 1857. The example below is from July 1855.

West Town had the first main period UDC, issued on 10th July 1844. It is known used in black from December 1844 to September 1848 and also in blue between December 1853 and August 1857. The example in black below is from April 1846.

Sunday, 6 October 2013

There were five offices under Glastonbury that were issued with UDCs. One, Street, was issued with two.

Street had UDCs issued on 8th January 1848 and on 26th June 1849. The example below in grey-blue from August 1857 is probably of the second UDC issued, which is known used in blue from September 1849 to December 1856, and in black from April 1854 to November 1859.

Wells had 18 offices that were issued UDCs, one of them, Cheddar, was issued with three.

Cheddar was also issued with multiple UDCs, on 7th December 1847, 17th March 1851 and 24th April 1851. The last UDC was issued immediately after the previous one and one might assume that it represented a problem with the previous handstamp. The example below, from 10th December 1858, appears to come from the middle UDC, the one proofed on 17th March 1851 - see the write-up for images of the strikes in the Steel Impression Book and why I think it comes from the 2nd UDC. Let me know if you think differently !

Weston-super-Mare had nine offices that were issued UDCs, three of them were issued with two.

South-Brent was issued with UDCs on 15th June 1852 and on 17th March 1857. The first of these is known used from November 1854 to January 1855. The example below is from November 1854.

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

There were 12 offices under Wellington that were issued with main period UDCs.

Brompton-Ralph's UDC was issued on 6th March 1852. Usage is known in blue from December 1852 to July 1854, and in black from November 1857 to February 1859. The example below in blue is from December 1853, just two days after the earliest known usage.

Huish-Champflower had its UDC issued on 10th April 1852, after a mispelt UDC ("HEWISH-CHAMPFLOWER") was issued on 6th March. It is known used in blue from April 1852 to August 1854, and in black in March 1858. The example below in blue is from August 1852.

Milverton had its UDC issued on 21st December 1844. It is known used in black from December 1844 to June 1852 and in blue from January 1850 to July 1852. The example below is from January 1846. Milverton at this stage had a numeric obliterator ("862") but would appear to still be under Wellington as witnessed by the dated handstamp on the reverse.